Hank Schrader
|Last Appearance = }} Henry R. "Hank" Schrader is the husband of Marie Schrader (the sister of Skyler White) and Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Albuquerque office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. A high-energy and boisterous man, Hank is Walter White's brother-in-law. Hank's year-long investigation of the meth kingpin in the area named "Heisenberg" led him to predict Gus' Drug Empire but has been unable to catch the fabled meth cook. Historically unaware that it is actually Walter, he recently has discovered evidence that connected Walt to Gale Boetticher, a known accomplice of Heisenberg. Although he is a highly competent agent and seems to genuinely care about Marie, Walter, Skyler White and Walter White Jr., his loud and loutish machismo insulates him from the danger he faces daily. History Season 1 Hank invited Walt on a "ride along" where Walt saw that his former student Jesse Pinkman was cooking meth. On the request of Marie Schrader, Hank tried to startle Walter White Jr. out of doing drugs (even though he wasn't doing them) by showing him Wendy and other meth heads. He and the DEA office began to notice the influx of a purer meth in the Albuquerque area. When Walt reveals that he has cancer, Hank tells him that if anything happens he will make sure the family is safe and taken care of. After Walt Jr. gets busted for asking an undercover cop to buy him beer he calls Hank, not his father. Hank tells him to give his father some patience. Later, Hank participates in Skyler's intervention for Walt about turning down Elliott Schwartz's money. When a gas mask leads Hank and the DEA to Walt's high school, he finds out that Walt's store room has been burgled by meth cooks (but Walt denies any knowledge). At Skyler's baby shower, Hank and Walt talk about Hank's line of work and how meth used to be legal. Season 2 While searching for a missing Walter, he questions Mrs. Pinkman who reveals that Jesse owns a lowrider car. Presuming that the lowrider may be equipped with a tracking device in the event that it is stolen, a hit leads Hank to a shack out in the desert. There, he stumbled upon the dangerous drug baron, Tuco Salamanca. A firefight ensued, resulting in Hank gunning Tuco down . This takedown of a major drug lord resulted in Hank getting a promotion and transfer to El Paso, TX. However, Hank began to secretly suffer from panic attacks. A harrowing and deadly incident with a snitch and the local cartels shook Hank up so severely that he had to be sent back to Albuquerque . Hank was ashamed of this and considered himself as having failed. Season 3 A few months later, Hank was again offered a position in El Paso, but was reluctant to go because of his post-traumatic stress disorder and his obsession with catching the elusive "Heisenberg" in Albuquerque. He picks a fight in a dive bar after intentionally leaving his gun and badge in his car, a move that was interpreted by many as indicative of his unstable mental state. . As Hank arrived at the airport to leave for El Paso, he received a call that the blue meth has reappeared and he goes back into town. Later, he is confronted by his superior, ASAC George Merkert, who forces him to decide whether or not he's going to accept to the position in Texas. Hank chose to stay in Albuquerque and pursue the "Heisenberg" investigation. The El Paso position went to Hank's partner, Steven Gomez, instead . After following many leads, Hank tracked down the owner of the RV and learned of Jesse. He staked out Jesse's house and followed him to a junkyard where Walt and Jesse were both inside the RV. While waiting for a warrant, Hank totally bought a bogus call (from Saul Goodman's secretary) alleging that Marie is in the hospital following a car accident. Hank rushed to the hospital only to learn that Marie is fine at home and he has been tricked . "]] When he returned to the junkyard, the RV was gone. Hank then went to Jesse's house and, in a rage over being duped, severely beat Jesse. The incident later caused him to reconsider being a police officer and he admitted to the assault. He was suspended and his gun was taken. While in a parking lot, he got a phone call warning him that he had one minute before two men came to kill him. The Cousins shot at him and hit him but he managed to kill one and severely injure the other . Hank was severely injured and was taken to the hospital where he underwent surgery. He slowly recovers via physical therapy but walking is still painful and difficult and Hank insists he will not return home until he can walk again . But his insurance will not pay for all the physical therapy and other hospital bills. Skyler, as a way of leveraging Walt's meth money, decides to help Hank with his bills, she concocts a story that convinces Marie to accept financial assistance from Walt for Hank's mounting medical bills. Hank is abusive and derisive of Marie's efforts to boost his spirits and get him to leave the hospital, but Marie is persistent and ends up tricking Hank into going home when she bets him she can get him aroused in 1 minute. Although Hank makes a valiant effort, he fails and goes home . Season 4 Still bedridden, Hank grew increasingly agitated at Marie and took to a hobby of collecting minerals to keep himself occupied. A police officer friend asked him to look at the evidence for Gale Boetticher's murder and Hank tied it to the Heisenberg case. He tied the evidence to Los Pollos Hermanos via Madrigal Electromotive GmbH. He began obsessing over Gustavo Fring's guilt although the DEA and his superiors told him that he was reaching. Hank went to asking Walt and Walt Jr to help him tail and plant a GPS device on Fring's car but he was unable to get any tangible evidence. Season 5 After Fring's death, Hank surveyed the destroyed superlab in awe that he was correct, but anger that it wasn't him who brought him down. George Merkert was forced out as ASAC and Hank was giving the job after the unheard success of his fixation with Fring. After Walt and Jesse's magnet heist revealed bank accounts for Fring's associates, Hank became obsessed with following Mike Ehrmantraut to track down the loose ends of Gus' Drug Empire. He was informed by his boss multiple times that he was to suspend the Fring/Ehrmantraut investigation, but he asked Steven Gomez to keep following Mike. He and Marie offered to take the kids from Skyler and Walt as they sorted out their marital issues. One morning, Walt talked with Hank about Skyler and began crying. Hank excused himself to get coffee and while he was along, Walt bugged Hank's office. Jesse and Mike use the bug to plan their next big move which is to sell their methylamine to Declan. Mike does this by issuing a restraining order against Hank, which pisses him off. After Walt thwarted Mike's deal with Declan and replaced it with his own, Mike retired with his $5 million but his house was searched by Hank and the DEA, who turned up nothing. Hank was instructed by his boss to end the Fring/Ehrmantraut case for once and for all, but they managed to track Mike's lawyer who was giving cash to the henchmen's families. ]] Without incoming funds, the henchman began itching for deals with the DEA. Since there were 10 men, Hank had his pick of the litter for which deal he wanted to make. Walt, however, made a move and had all ten of the men killed within the same two minute span. Three days after the attack, Hank and Walt shared a drink and Hank wondered if his first job, a backbreaking outdoor job was better than his current job of "hunting monsters". Weeks later at a cookout at the White's, Hank excused himself to use the restroom, where he found a copy of Leaves of Grass ''by Walt Whitman while searching for reading material. Hank noticed that the inside cover was signed by "G.B." and addressed to "my other favorite W.W." Remembering his conversation with Walter, in which the two joked that the "W.W." mentioned in Gale Boetticher's notes referred to Walter White, Hank came to the shocking realization that his brother-in-law was the Heisenberg he has been chasing all along. Hank exits the bathroom, stunned and transformed. He stows ''Leaves of Grass ''in his bag, returns to the poolside, and departs the get-together with Marie, claiming that he feels sick. The overwhelming realization of how Walter has deceived, endangered, and crippled them all blurs Hank’s vision and steals his breath, causing him to careen off the road and hit a neighbor's mailbox. Hank, fuming with rage, shame, and vertigo, is left panicked and gasping. Armed with this new lead, Hank decides to take time off work and revisit all the evidence boxes relating to the blue meth, Heisenberg, and the drug empire of Gustavo Fring. Suddenly, the boxes of evidence tell a whole new story. Hank even peers at the surveillance video of the methylamine precursor theft, and the grainy figures now clearly resolve into Walt and Jesse. Walter later discovers that ''Leaves of Grass is missing, connects the dots to Hank's discomfort, and confirms his suspicions by finding a tracking device on his car. Walt travels to Hank's house, where they meet in the garage. After some cordial discussion, Walt brings up the GPS device, all but sneering at Hank for his clumsy use of the same tracking device the two of them planted on Fring’s car. Hank closes the garage door, enraged, and punches Walt in the face, shouting his knowledge of Walt's true criminal nature. Walt does not seem worried, and warns a shaken, awestruck Hank: “If you don’t know who I am, maybe your best course of action is to tread lightly.” Walter argues that he will be dead from cancer before the law will see him put behind bars. Furthermore, the fragile peace they’ve achieved is built on death and deceit, but it still might be better than the alternative. Hank - who, having been crippled and unmanned by Walt's quest for power, still desires vengeance on Heisenberg as the key to reclaiming his self - is left to contemplate his next move. As soon as Walt leaves Hank's house, both parties are frantically attempting to call Skyler, with Hank reaching her first and asking her to meet up in a local coffee shop to talk about everything. When they meet, Hank's demeanor is initially comforting and respectful, but soon changes to demanding and hasty as Skyler begins to see that Hank's true intention seems to be apprehending Walt rather than the welfare of the extended family. After repeatedly asking if she is under arrest, to which Hank does not directly answer, Skyler angrily leaves the premises leaving Hank to ponder his next move once more. Some time later, Hank sends Marie to speak with Skyler but after a short but tense confrontation, he leaves with Marie who now also sees what Walt has done to her sister. Hank tells Marie that he requries concrete proof of his brother-in-law being Heisenberg but if he tells the office that it is Walt, his career will be over due to his familial relationship with the man. Hank returns to the DEA office, where he is notified by Steven Gomez that Jesse has been mindlessly throwing large amounts of money around Albuquerque. Meeting with the two agents who spoke to Jesse when Brock was poisoned, Hank suggests that he speak to Jesse to see what information he can draw from him. He then enters the interrogation room where Jesse remains silent. Hank fails to extract any information from Jesse, and a short time later he meets with Walt and Skyler. At the meeting he accuses Walt of being weak and that his only option is to admit all of the bad things he has done. Walt leaves a DVD on the table and departs with Skyler. Upon watching the DVD, Hank and Marie realise that this is not a confesssion, as Walt speaks of how Hank is the mastermind behind his drug empire and that he was held against his will as a chemist, while Hank used his connections to the DEA. Walt references several events that did occur and ties them in to the story (such as the attempt on Hank's life by Gus, as well as the mark left by Hank when he punched Walt), weaving an increasingly believable web. Hank finds out that Walt and Skyler paid for his medical bills when he was shot by The Cousins as Marie did not know it was drug money when she accepted it from Skyler. He claims that this has killed him, and that this is the last nail in the coffin. At the DEA offices, Hank calls off Gomez's guys as they are watching Saul's office. He decides to leave his office, cancelling a meeting in the process. Personality and traits Boisterous and outspoken by nature, Hank can sometimes come off as rude or insensitive. His cavalier attitude causes him to believe that having friends and co-workers of color gives him a free pass to call Mexicans "beaners," and that working for the government entitles him to certain contraband perks, like Cuban cigars. In some ways, Hank is introduced as the antithesis of Walt, in a good way: he's popular, cheerful, successful, and constantly bragging about his skills. Walt dislikes it when Walt Jr. looks up to Hank, yet he loves Hank on some grudging level. Hank has shown himself to be a good law enforcement agent and competent investigator, primarily of the source of the high-quality blue meth of "Heisenberg," his brother-in-law Walt's underworld alter ego. Hank drives a midnight blue Jeep Commander. In the course of his work, Hank is promoted to the prestigious yet more dangerous base in El Paso, Texas from Albuquerque for a short time, but experiences a traumatic event courtesy of the Mexican drug cartels and moves back to Albuquerque. This experience leaves him with enduring, debilitating anxiety attacks. These attacks, which reveal a more vulnerable side to Hank that he tends to disguise, increase in intensity after two brutal members, The Cousins, ambush Hank leave him with a debilitating injury. After the Cousins' shootout, Walt realizes he's partly responsible for Hank's situation and thus saves him from Gus by the end of season 4. Hank has a cavalier exterior, but in reality the dark side of his job affects him more than he cares to admit. Despite his considerable shortcomings, Hank is basically a good-hearted family man. Although he is loud and opinionated, he is competent at his job and cares deeply about Walter and his family. Murders committed by Hank *'Tuco Salamanca': Shot in the forehead in self-defense. *'Marco Salamanca': Shot in the face in self-defense. Quotes Trivia *Hank wears his wristwatch on his right wrist as seen in the final scene of Episode 7 of Season 4 and many other episodes. *Hank brews his own beer in his garage *Hank plays fantasy football *On the spec script of the pilot, his last name was Weld. *Hank collects minerals as a hobby es:Hank Schrader Schrader, Hank Category:Law enforcements